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A "stop" is defined as an officer requesting a person in a public place to account for themselves such as their actions and behaviour.

The figures showed that 37 out of 43 forces in England and Wales recorded an increase.

Out of the 1.87 million incidents, there were 955,000 stop and searches, the highest figure for seven years. The Metropolitan Police force accounted for a third of them.

Black people were seven times more likely to be "stopped and searched" by police than white people in 2006/07, a slightly higher ratio than in the previous 12 months.

A Home Office review has already suggested overhauling the measures, which were introduced in the wake of the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, by replacing the foot-long form with a simple receipt.

Asian people were 2.2 times more likely to be stopped and searched than whites, compared with a rate of 2.1 in the previous 12 months.

There were a similar number of police "stops and accounts" in 2006/7.

In this category, black people were 2.5 times more likely to be stopped than whites, the figures for England and Wales showed.

The number of stop and searches carried out on black and Asian people rose more than the number carried out on whites - about a 12 per cent increase for both ethnic groups compared with a 9 per cent rise for whites.

The most common reasons given for a stop and search was for drugs and for stolen property.